Metaphysical Reviews

Let Go: Finish the Job – Saving Mr. Banks

Recently Suzanne and I saw Saving Mr. Banks. It’s the story of how Walt Disney finally persuaded P.L. Travers to sell him the rights to Mary Poppins, which, of course, became the iconic movie musical (and multiple Oscar winner) that we all know.

The movie is worth seeing just for entertainment. Tom Hanks is excellent as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson is magnificent as P.L. Travers. The two actors who play the Sherman brothers, the composers of the movie’s score, are very good as well.

The movie shows the clash of visions between the Disney view of the world (which the Sherman brothers seem to share) and the Travers view of the world. Travers’s view is much darker than Disney’s, yet they discover what they have in common. That discovery is what finally cements the deal and makes Mary Poppins, the movie, work.

As time goes on, Disney realizes how personal the story is to Travers. He realizes how central it is to her life and why she is so protective of it. And we find out that Walt Disney can relate to her experience from his own.

I don’t wish to spoil the plot, but at one point, Travers leaves Los Angeles to fly back to London, not having signed the contract for the movie rights (which Disney has been trying to get for 20 years to keep a promise to his daughters.) She arrives at her house and Disney shows up.

Knowing that Mr. Banks is based on Travers’ father, Disney tells her a story of growing up in Missouri with his father and brother that resonates well with Travers’ own life (which we see in flashbacks throughout the movie.) Then he says something key — that making Mary Poppins is a way for Travers to forgive.

“I do not need to forgive my father,” she says. Disney tells her that it’s not her father she needs to forgive, but herself. He pitches her on the idea that making the movie — with his optimistic, sunnier worldview — is a way to forgive and let go. “Finish the job,” he implores her.

The movie ends with Travers at the premiere, crying at the movie. It’s a moment of release, although Travers can’t quite acknowledge it.

So who is your Mr. Banks? Whoever it is, it’s time to stop carrying Mr. Banks around with you. It’s time to finish the job by forgiving yourself and your Mr. Banks for whatever you believe may need it. Do not let your “Mr. Banks experience” define you. Let it go. Finish the job. As A Course in Miracles says, “It is the privilege of the forgiven to forgive.”

This movie reminds us that whatever our experience, it’s just experience and it’s never too late to have it be a good experience. To quote Rev. Noel McInnis, “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.” Writing the books helped P.L. Travers reframe her childhood and Disney’s take finished the job. Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down in a most delightful way.

This is a movie experience you’ll learn from and one you’ll enjoy.

Tim Phares, RScP

And the World Goes ‘Round – Footlight Parade

Sometimes your dreams get broken in pieces
But that doesn’t alter a thing.
Take it from me, there’s still gonna be
A summer, a winter, a fall and a spring.

— Fred Ebb, “And the World Goes ‘Round” (from New York, New York)

From time to time, there is a close relationship between composers and performers. One such was the relationship between Liza Minnelli and songwriters John Kander and Fred Ebb, starting with their show Flora the Red Menace in 1963 and continuing until Ebb’s passing in 2004.

Recently, we heard this great product of that collaboration on one of our favorite programs, Footlight Parade: Sounds of the American Musical. It’s a wonderful radio show about musical theatre.

The lyrics quoted above may seem odd from a Science of Mind/New Thought perspective. But they point out what one of our Center’s founding ministers, Rev. Noel McInnis, used to call “local pain, cosmic joy.” Although we may be going through painful experiences, although our dreams may be broken in pieces, the experience of the Universe is joy. The shattered pieces may be a dramatic kick in the shins to get moving – pick up those pieces, find what is yours to do, what makes you sing. The shattered dream leads us to the newer, bigger, deeper dream, which it is the joy of our Universe for you to pursue and achieve.

Sometimes we try to make the old shattered pieces work again. Sometimes we try to hang on to what’s been shattered and tattered. As your parents would say, stop it! Don’t keep chasing after what isn’t yours, because what’s calling you will keep calling until you answer. And it will get louder. Or to quote Fred Ebb again, “one day it’s kicks, then it’s kicks in the shins. But the planet spins, and the world goes ‘round and ‘round.”

So reach for the joy. Align yourself with cosmic joy and not with local pain. Take your shatters and tatters and use them to build something new and glorious, because either way, the world goes ‘round and ‘round.

Tim Phares, RScP

Ever-greater Good – The Tempest

by Tim Phares, RScP–November 10, 2012

Today we saw another Met Live in HD opera presentation. It was Thomas Ades’sThe Tempest, based on the Shakespeare play of the same name. The music is very modernist and the libretto has been modernized, with but a few of The Bard’s most famous lines surviving. (“Those are pearls that were his eyes.”) One character observes that “fortune, ’tis said, favors the bold.” Certainly, as tomorrow is Veterans Day, we honor the boldest among us, a boldness motivated by love.

The Tempest is an odd story of revenge, forgiveness and release. Prospero, a magician of fading powers, was Duke of Milan until his brother betrayed him and made a deal with the King of Milan to depose him and exile him and his young daughter Miranda to an enchanted island. There he rules, served by Caliban (who believes himself the king of the island) and Ariel, a sprite. Prospero has Ariel arrange a storm (“The Tempest”) to bring his enemies to the island, where he plans to get revenge. When they arrive, however, the son of the King of Florence, Ferdinand, falls in love with Miranda. At first, Prospero tries to stop it, but they keep falling in love and eventually, he forgives his enemies and releases his daughter to marry the man she loves. (A happy ending? In an opera?) Miranda and Ferdinand lead him there. Prospero gets his dukedom back and Caliban gets his island back.

So what does The Tempest tell us? Well, it tells us that as we plot revenge for those who may (in our perception) have wronged us, our power diminishes. We’re out of alignment. Things go wrong. “The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve.” And that is certainly the way things are headed for Prospero, Miranda, Caliban, and everyone else. But when we forgive and release, all things are added. That which we’re working for is attracted to us. But that takes boldness. It’s somewhat counterintuitive.

So we accept boldness, forgiveness, and release, knowing that the ever-greater is always right at hand, that even as the great globe itself dissolves, Spirit is at work, bringing us ever-greater good.

If You Believe – Oz

by Tim Phares, RScp — March 30, 2013

Today we saw Oz the Great and Powerful. Very fun movie — a prequel to The Wizard of Oz — and some interesting metaphysical lessons.

When we first meet the Wizard in Kansas (true to The Wizard of Oz, this part is in black and white), he is neither great nor powerful, but is a circus magician and something of a cad with his female assistants. (Check out the name of the circus; I won’t mention it, but it’s quite a fun inside joke.) He is doing magic shows for audiences. Someone spots the wire on his female assistant that is holding her up, so he makes her disappear. He explains that you can do anything if you believe. A little girl asks him to make her walk (she is crippled). He can’t, and he runs away. The entire town and many of the circus performers are chasing him. He hops in a hot-air balloon, gets caught in a tornado, and lands in a river.

A pretty woman comes along and explains to him that he is in the Land of Oz (convenient, since his name is Oswald and as a magician, he is billed as “Oz the Great and Powerful.”) She tells him about a prophecy given by their late King when he was killed that a great wizard will arrive and save them from the wicked witch. It turns out she’s a witch herself.

They begin the trip towards the Emerald City. Along the way, they encounter a talking, winged monkey who is about to be eaten by a lion and Oz saves him. The monkey becomes his devoted servant. When they reach the Emerald City, he enters the palace, is shown the gold that belongs to the King, and meets the girl’s sister, also a witch. She presents herself as the guardian of the palace.

Oz and his monkey go out to save the land. Along the way, they find a china doll whose family has been shattered. He asks her to walk towards him, but she can’t — her legs are broken off. The wizard fixes them with a magical substance (glue). She insists on going with him.

They encounter the witch. The wizard was told that if he broke her wand, he could kill the wicked witch, fulfill the prophecy, and become king. So he sends the monkey around a flank and sneaks up on the witch. He’s gets her wand, then discovers that she is a pretty blonde. She says she is Glinda the Good. They team up to save the Land of Oz from the witch.

Meanwhile, back at the palace, the witch has seen in her crystal ball that Oz and Glinda have teamed up. She plays off the jealousy in her sister (who wants to be Oz’s queen) to get her to bite an apple, which turns her wicked — and green.

Oz, Glinda, the monkey, and the china doll arrive in the Emerald City to great acclaim. Unfortunately, the sister witches have an army and all Oz has is tinkers, farmers, and Munchkins. But they gain entrance to the city, and using various tricks and tools that he has devised (which are nothing but pure prestidigitation), they save the city.

There are several metaphysical lessons in this movie:

It’s all about changing perception. There is no way that the wizard and his ragtag allies can defeat the witches and their army, but he changes the perception and they do it. Isn’t that what we do — change perception and consciousness and thus change the circumstances?

There is greatness in everyone. When Oz says he only wants to be a great man, Glinda sees the greatness in him, even though he is a self-described con man.

“Do all you can with what you have in the time you have in the place you are.”

You may not get what you want, but you always get what you need. At one point, Oz says to Glinda, “I’m sorry I’m not the wizard you were anticipating, but I may just be the wizard you need.” He certainly seems to be that, as his tricks save the day – just what was needed.

Never give power to your fear. The people of Oz are living in great fear of the powerful Wicked Witch and are desperate to be saved from her power. When you fear, you empower what you fear.

And the movie’s biggest theme — you can do anything if you believe.

Time for Action – The Great Gatsby

by Tim Phares, RScp, May 10, 2013

Today we saw The Great Gatsby. It’s an excellent adaptation of the classic Fitzgerald novel. The Great Gatsby is about striving, dreaming, and trying to restore what was. Jay Gatsby is a man who has remade himself from a penniless war veteran into a millionaire, all in pursuit of his lost love, Daisy, who is now married to Tom Buchanan. Tom is old money. The green light at the Buchanans’ residence across the harbor represents the dream that is just out of reach for Gatsby. At one point, he’s talking to his friend Nick, the narrator (and most likely Fitzgerald’s alter ego.) He asks if his preparations are “too much.” “It’s what you want,” says Nick.

So what do we want? Is it too much? Is that dream just out of reach? Are you standing on the dock, staring at that green light?

Time for action.

So … Knowing that there is only One, that It is all of us, that everything is that One, knowing that, as Robert Browning said, “Man’s reach must exceed his grasp/Else what’s a Heaven for?”, I simply now know and accept that Life moves forward. We cannot go back. But dreams are always made real, if we focus and follow Divine guidance.

I am thankful for that beacon of light beckoning us all to reach for dreams and I am grateful for the knowledge that we can make of our circumstances whatever we choose to make them. I accept this in gratitude, and I release it to Divine Law.

And SO it IS.

Tim Phares is a founding member of Celebration Center

A Hundred Million Miracles

by Tim Phares, RScP

A hundred million miracles are happ’ning ev’ry day,
And those who say they don’t agree
Are those who do not hear or see.
– Oscar Hammerstein III, “A Hundred Million Miracles,” from Flower Drum Song

What are you doing right now? Silly question, of course: You’re reading this article. But have you contemplated the miraculous chain of events that enables you to read these words? I am sitting here at my keyboard, typing these words. A few clicks send them out and a few more clicks post them on this site. Then, with just a few clicks, you are able to read them. This is just one of the hundred million miracles each day to which Oscar Hammerstein’s lyric, quoted above, refer.

Recently, this song was played on one of our favorite radio programs, Footlight Parade: The Sounds of the American Musical. It’s one of many from the Broadway stage that promotes a positive, spiritual, empowering message.

The science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” How much of that magic does it take simply to create this article and for you to read it?

Well, yes, I hear you say, but it’s all science and engineering. It’s just a network of wires transmitting electronic signals. Not miracles, just technology. OK, then, what enabled that to happen? A Course in Miracles says, “Miracles are natural. If they are not occurring, something has gone wrong.”

Every day, we are surrounded by miracles. Remember Einstein’s rule. We can approach life as if everything is a miracle or as if nothing is. What do you think will yield better results – a happier, more inspired life, a more prosperous, productive life? I submit that we ought to live in conscious awareness of the miracles all around, of the hundred million miracles happening every day.

Practioner Tim Phares is a founding member of Celebration Center.